A PLACE FOR ALL HOT WHEELS FANATICS

Car Culture / Japan Historics 2: NISSAN SKYLINE C210

The 50th Anniversary of Hot Wheels is off to a spectacular start for the brand. Sure the mainline is always a hit and there are loads of 50th Anniversary cars coming, but 2018 starting off with a bang in the #Car Culture line with the much anticipated release of the #Car Culture / Japan Historics 2 series. Banking on the success of the first Japan Historics series that was released as the first Car Culture series in 2016, the team at Hot Wheels decided to give us collectors a sequel — and if the movie industry has taught me anything, its that a third installment is pretty much a foregone conclusion. Trilogy anyone???

Much like the first series trailblazing the way for the #Car Culture line, Japan Historics 2 (JH2) has ushered in a new era, as it is the first Car Culture series to be released at the new price-point of $5.50 (U.S.), which is up $2 from last year. But why the raise in price? Well, every car in the Car Culture line will now feature detailed front and rear deco (including headlights & taillights), a larger & heavier card stock, as well as an upgrade to the line itself which will now be able to include some of the larger and more detailed (5+ piece) castings.

More detailed castings you ask? Well, you’re looking at it with today’s feature — my favorite car from the series. The brand-new, #First Edition of the #Nissan Skyline C210 makes its debut in JH2 is this killer metalflake purple paint. It also has 5 pieces to the body which include: body, base, windows, interior AND a front/rear grill piece. I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest #JDM fan as I didn’t even know the real car existed before Hot Wheels made it, but this #Mark Jones Designed casting looks spectacular with the paint and graphics used by Hot Wheels graphic designer, Steve Vandervate. Easily my favorite car from the 5-car series which includes heavy-hitters like the #Datsun Bluebird 510 and the #Nissan Fairlady Z.

This #Car Culture / Japan Historics 2 release of the #Nissan Skyline C210 also exemplifies why you should wait to see a casting in all its intended glory before making harsh statements based off of the prototype. The Hot Wheels Dream Team first unveiled this casting at the Tokyo Toy Show back in June of last year. Much to my chagrin, I thought things like, “worst #Skyline yet” and “I’m going to pass on this one”. Seven months later, I found myself buying into the JH2 hype, running all over town in search of the series, and picking out this one as my favorite.

Given that I’ve heard this #Mark Jones Designed casting is spot on in terms of stance and proportions — which I thought made it look a little like a #Lowrider — we are definitely bound to see another release of the #Nissan Skyline C210 again. With this 5-piece tool and a metal base it certainly won’t appear in the mainline, so if you’re a collector of only Hot Wheels premium lines, this may be a casting for you. Look for it at retail now as it looks like you will have some competition if you haven’t already found this #Skyline(and the rest of JH2) yet.